Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a perspective drawing and a cross-sectional drawing of a conventional ball grid array (BGA) packaged component 10 mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) 12 are respectively shown. Multiple strain gauges 14a–14d are commonly mounted on the PCB 12 around the component 10 to characterize mechanical loading and strain to solder balls 16a–16n attaching the component 10 to the PCB 12. Attaching the strain gauges 14a–14b to the PCB 12 is cumbersome and extremely time consuming. The strain gages 14a–14d are attached on a top surface 18 of the PCB 12 and thus away from areas of interest. The strain gages 14a–14d cannot be placed between the component 10 and top surface 18 due to the solder balls 16a–16n. Therefore, measurements are taken away from solder balls 16a–16n or other locations that are important.
Furthermore, wiring from the strain gages 14a–14d commonly interferes with board level test equipment, such as in circuit test (ICT) or automated functional test (AFT) equipment. The strain gages 14a–14d are typically placed away from the board level test fixtures to avoid the interferences. Therefore, the board level test equipment interference makes measurements from the strain gauges 14a–14d inaccurate.